SME snippets September 24, 2013

All the smaller, and often bizarre and humorous, SME-related stories from Australia and abroad that we’ve come across this week.

All the smaller, and often bizarre and humorous, SME-related stories from Australia and abroad that we’ve come across this week.

Aussies are going to great lengths to avoid bill shock including accessing free Wi-Fi, using a friend’s phone or relying on work to subsidise their personal data addiction, says new research from Optus My Plan. 60 per cent of Australians that use their mobile phone to access the internet worry about their mobile data allowance, with 33 per cent concerned about getting an unexpected bill for going over their limit. Of interest to employers, one in five admit to switching their phone to their employer’s Wi-Fi when at work, and workers are so used to relying on their employers to save their mobile data allowance, the average employee spends five weeks every year (an average of four hours each week) using workplace internet for personal use.

As The New Zealand Herald so proudly pointed out last week, the latest MYOB Business Monitor found that Kiwi SME business owners are feeling more confident about the economy and their own performance compared to their Aussie counterparts. Out of 1,000 Kiwi SMEs, 28 per cent expected the NZ economy to improve within 12 months, compared to 24 per cent in March and 18 per cent in June last year. Likewise, there has been a pick-up in the number of owners anticipating their own performance to improve - 43 per cent, up from 36 per cent in June last year. James Scollay, from MYOB NZ, said the health of the country's SME sector had gone from “a stop-start recovery” to a more stable, consistent level of growth. As if it wasn’t enough that they’re already killing us on the Rugby pitch…

West Australian Newspapers (WAN) and resourcing provider CareerOne have joined forces to deliver Jobfinder, a new employment solution for employers and jobseekers in WA. For businesses on the recruitment trail, the new site combines CareerOne’s technology with WAN’s print media solutions, making Jobfinder multi-platform. Check it out at jobfinder.com.au.

Follow @mybusinessau on Twitter for breaking stories throughout the day.